Of head and heart

In a small group session at a recent retreat I confessed to being a bit of an intellectual. Several members of the group said that they had noticed. Their preference was for sharing from the heart rather than from the head. It was a Buddhist retreat and in that spirit I will put a few words together to aid reconciliation.

A non intellectual has gut feelings and speaks and listens from the heart; she also pays attention to her feelings and intuitions more than to the facts; she prefers a warm and fuzzy exchange that is subjective and leads on to creativity; she tends to react quickly and automatically to thoughts, feelings and moods that emerge from the unconscious and, in the process, she might get emotional and shed tears.

Even a hard nosed intellectual is likely to be affected by emotions and intuitions; the difference is that he wants to know why. He prefers cool headed exchanges where he takes time to respond objectively and thoughtfully to stuff emerging from the unconscious. He acts as a non-judgemental witness to what goes on in his head and he is thus better able to remain unattached from conditioned biases and points of view.

Comments?